Trip Report The "HECK YEAH My Job Sent Us to WDW" + 2 Birthdays Trip Report

The cast of this trip is the same as our last trip:

Me (Lynn) and my husband (Brett)

Trent: Our son was just about to turn 1 this trip. His birthday was just 2 days after we got home, so we celebrated him the entire trip. It was also Brett's birthday while we were down there, so we actually celebrated both of them!

Introduction and background

We stayed at the Contemporary Resort for 6 days/5 nights from June 11-16. The main reason for the trip was for a work conference I was attending at the Contemporary. The best part was that not only was my job paying for 4 of the nights, the mileage there and back, and a food per diem, but the room rate was so phenomenal, that we had to take advantage and stay an extra night. $179 per night and no tax…yes, please!

Oh and Brett and Trent tagged along. One would think that it was torture sitting in a conference all day while at the Happiest Place on Earth, especially since it was an accounting conference…us CPAs aren’t known for our party-hard skills…but it wasn’t bad since it was so unbearably hot during the day that we wouldn’t have wanted to even go to a park anyway.

I did not do any type of pre-trip report for this trip. Why? Because when I tediously put together a pre-trip report for our April trip and shared it all over the interwebs, it got completely rearranged the second we arrived on property. Oops.

Since this was our first time staying in a monorail resort, our main goal was to maximize the convenience factor…so the plan was to do either Epcot or Magic Kingdom each day, but we didn’t have any specific plans on which one we did on each day. We kinda winged it and it ended up working out so well.

We LOVED not having to get in the car, park (probably at the very end of a row because that seems to always happen), take a tram to get to the park, then do it all over again to leave the park. And no folding up the stroller either! We could just put Trent in and roll him right onto the monorail. It was glorious.

 

[Lynn1030]

Trent is so cute in that pic! Wow people can be so good sometimes! I really think the magic of Disney brings out the goodness in people We always seem to be given fastpasses from people as they leave the park!

We were really surprised but so thankful....Disney food already tastes amazing, FREE Disney food tastes even better!

 

[Lynn1030]

It had just started to rain, so we took shelter inside and had fun near the firetruck.

“Hey Ma, I found something that I’m taller than! But I’m still going to go on my tippy-toes anyway!”

Now, I will let Trent demonstrate the proper form for “Stop, drop and roll.”

Decent family photo coming up next!

Pretend sleeps.

 

[Lynn1030]

It was still raining, so we took a spin on Spaceship Earth.

The rain had stopped while we were on the ride, so we ventured back out.

Duffy had no line, so we jumped in to meet him. I always think that when a character has no line, that they must be gearing up to leave…that happens so often, we go to get in line and the cast member tells us the character is getting ready to leave and no more people can enter the line. Not this time, though, so I quickly pulled Trent out of his stroller so we would be next.

Wow, is that one half- smile or what? The funny thing about this trip compared to Trent’s first WDW trip in April was his reaction to characters. During the first trip, he couldn’t get enough of them…touching their noses, feeling their fur, hugging them….it was so darn cute. But for this trip, he had started to become quite the shy baby…he would shake his head no at characters (including Mickey…gasp!) and would turn away from them. It wasn’t too bad, as he didn’t scream or cry and would still interact with them somewhat, but it was definitely much different. I’m interested to see his reactions when we go later this month…

 

[Gabe1]

I just love this picture. He is so entranced with that cupcake, there seems to be nothing else in the world but it.

 

[myhappyplace]

AWWWW adorable series of pics with Duffy!

 

[Jose]

This little baby has to be on a Disney magazine!!!!

 

[DisSplash]

Mmmmm... that pretzel bread looks sooo good! All it needs is a little cheese dip! I also got to conference at Disney on two prior occasions and brought the family as well. It was so awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience ... I missed the family while I was in sessions, but it was the best feeling in the world to be able go to the Parks "after work!" I was especially happy just to have my family with me while I was technically "on travel."
It looks as if you guys are totally making the most of it! Even with missing the free valet, you still come out ahead!

 

[Gabe1]

This little baby has to be on a Disney magazine!!!!

Or his Daddy should be a Publicity CM photographer. He is awesome!

 

[Lynn1030]

AWWWW adorable series of pics with Duffy!

Thanks! Looks like we will be in Disney at the same time...single digit countdown!

This little baby has to be on a Disney magazine!!!!

Mmmmm... that pretzel bread looks sooo good! All it needs is a little cheese dip! I also got to conference at Disney on two prior occasions and brought the family as well. It was so awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience ... I missed the family while I was in sessions, but it was the best feeling in the world to be able go to the Parks "after work!" I was especially happy just to have my family with me while I was technically "on travel."
It looks as if you guys are totally making the most of it! Even with missing the free valet, you still come out ahead!

Yes, it made me wish that we could do it every day!

Or his Daddy should be a Publicity CM photographer. He is awesome!

He would love that, I'm sure! Would we get free WDW tickets?

 

[Gabe1]

He would love that, I'm sure! Would we get free WDW tickets?

Indeed. I get in free, (thanks son) my room last trip was discounted either 50 or 60%, my dining plan was around $25 a day and my DS purchased what I wanted in way of souvenirs his discount ranges 20-40% depending on the time of year. He gets a straight up discount on TS venues. Lots of little perks. I envy his employment with Disney. His girlfriends folks are coming down from N. IL next week and they will all be staying at the BoardWalk. Yep, he is having the time of his life, round three. He did two CP programs, one during college, once the fall after graduating college.

Can't you just imagine your son growing up in the parks? Well, he kinda is already.....

 

[myhappyplace]

Thanks! Looks like we will be in Disney at the same time...single digit countdown!

Yay!! I will keep my eye out for you!! Have fun!

 

[Lynn1030]

Indeed. I get in free, (thanks son) my room last trip was discounted either 50 or 60%, my dining plan was around $25 a day and my DS purchased what I wanted in way of souvenirs his discount ranges 20-40% depending on the time of year. He gets a straight up discount on TS venues. Lots of little perks. I envy his employment with Disney. His girlfriends folks are coming down from N. IL next week and they will all be staying at the BoardWalk. Yep, he is having the time of his life, round three. He did two CP programs, one during college, once the fall after graduating college.

Can't you just imagine your son growing up in the parks? Well, he kinda is already.....

Oh man, I wish I knew someone that could hook us up like that!

 

[Lynn1030]

It started to rain again, so we took shelter in the Morocco Pavilion. The shops back there already feel cramped enough, even more so with a stroller and a bunch of other people escaping the rain. We stopped by the Kidcot station to have Trent’s name written in Arabic, but he only cared about biting the cardboard.

Failed attempt at a nice photo.

 

[Lynn1030]

Time to head back out!

My loves.

 

[Lynn1030]

Brett went to take some photos so Trent and I entertained ourselves. This is why Brett is in charge of family/vacation photos and I am not.

Look who we have here, it’s Mary Poppins!

He is looking at her like “I have no idea what you are saying, Lady, but I’m gonna hold on to my momma real tight, so don’t try any funny business!”

I tried to get him to hold the umbrella, but he put up such a fight…he did not want to touch it!

He did, however, let me put beer goggles on him. Priorities.

King Svenson.

 

[Lynn1030]

We stopped to enjoy some Off Kilter. Trent must have liked it, or was really tired, because he just sat there staring at them for the 10 minutes we were there.

I’ll take a dreary day at WDW than a sunny day at work any day.

Oh, no! It’s flooding in WDW!

We jumped back on the monorail and went back to our room for a little while to let the rain die down.

 

[Lynn1030]

After a little while, we got back on the resort monorail to head to Magic Kingdom for the night, but literally a second before the doors opened at the Polynesian, we decided to jump off and grab some Dole Whips at Captain Cooks.

Since they let you fill up your own cup as much as you want, we reignited our “who-can-build-the-biggest-and-best-ice-cream” feud, one that occurs on every cruise….this first one is Brett’s.

Here is mine.

Oh yes, I totally won that one. Brett was disappointed afterward and claims he didn’t know he could put so much in the cup. Pfft…whatever. I would have made mine taller if I hadn’t started going crooked. I think we need to keep practicing every time we go to WDW. What do you think?

The real winner? Trent, who got to eat from both of our Dole Whips.

I was also extremely disappointed that the flavored iced coffee machine was already gone. I asked a cast member and she said they weren't going to be putting it back. I guess once the word was out that you could get flavored iced coffee with your refillable mug, we all went bananas over it to the point they were losing money over it. The Disney fairy giveth then taketh away so quickly.

Dole Whips + weird elevator music = this.

Once we arrived at MK, we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean.

We forgot to get a ride height photo at MK during Trent’s first trip, so we made sure to get one this time. He tried to stand up on his tippy-toes, but still not tall enough. You've got a few years to wait for that one, Trent.

 

[Lynn1030]

We had said we wouldn’t stop to watch Wishes! this night, after seeing it the past few nights, but part of me just has the hardest time not watching fireworks when I am there. I love Wishes! so much, so I started quickly walking towards Fantasyland behind the castle, just to catch a glimpse.

Wow…I did not catch a glimpse. What I stumbled upon was perhaps my new favorite Wishes! viewing location.

Yes, even better than the Tomorrowland Terrace during the Dessert Party. Although, if I had some dessert with me at this point, that would have just put us on cloud nine.

We stood next to the Carousel and felt so close to the action…because we were! The spray fireworks go off from rooftops directly behind the castle and then the main fireworks are behind the park. It was so loud, but so energetic. I loved being so close to everything and how it wasn’t just a bunch of rows of people staring in one direction. You could turn 360 degrees and have something to look at the entire time. It was just random groupings of people looking around, some standing, some sitting and some even laying flat and looking up. I stuck Trent on my shoulders and kept going back and forth on what to look at. We must have said “Ooohhh” a hundred times.

By the end of the show, Trent wanted me to put him down, but I knew the finale was coming up and thought we could get some good photos of us with it in the background (even though I was torn between actually watching the finale and having it be in the photo behind me…ugh, the sacrifices we make for a good photo…), so he was pushing and try to get down and it was a struggle to hold on to him…so this is what we got.

Well, at least they’re funny, right? I guess Trent wanted to show you all that not every photo of him turns out the way we want.

 

[Lynn1030]

Now, it was time to go on some rides! The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Oh yes, we totally bought him this hat. He loves it and I smile when he wears it when we go to the park, grocery shopping, etc.

Brett was wanting to get some photos of the Sword in the Stone, so Trent and I went on the Carousel…which was almost empty and the Cast Member even held the gate for me since she heard me tell Brett I was going to go on it.

 

[Lynn1030]

We wanted to finally catch the Main Street Electrical Parade, so we headed towards the Hub. They hadn’t roped everything off yet, but I saw the tape on the ground where I knew they would be putting up a rope…and there was no one there yet. Why, I don’t mind if I do. I quickly pushed the stroller over to it, put the brakes on and then sat down on the ground before Brett could even ask where I was going. It was a FANTASTIC spot.

Can you believe in both of these trips, the most Trent has seen of this parade is far away from the Dessert Party and then about 30 seconds as we were leaving one night…both during the first trip. And after tonight, we were angry at ourselves that he hadn’t seen it sooner…the kid frickin loved it! He was clapping, screaming (the good kind), waving, smiling…he had a blast. I got some video of it that I included in our trip video that I'll share once I get to the end of our trip report.

After the parade, we headed back to the Contemporary. Before going to the room, we walked around for some random photos.

Where’s Trent?

I'll admit, it's pretty fun when they are small and you can put them in random spots for entertaining photos.